Method of manufacturing coke from pitch and the product thereof.



. volume caused by UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CLARENCE R. ECKERT, OF CHICAGO, ILLIN OIS, ASSIG-NOR TO THE BARRETT COMPANY,

OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF WEST VIRGINIA.

METHOD OF MANUFACTURING COKE FROM PITCH AND THE PRODUCT THEREOF.

Patented Jan. 23, 1917.

Serial No. 49,901.

. 1 213 763 Specification of Letters Patent.v Ill'o Drawing. Application filed September 10, 1915.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CLARENCE R. ECKERT, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Illinois, have invented new and useful Improvements in Methods of Manufacturing Coke from Pitch and the Products Thereof, of. which the following is a specification.

My invention consists in a new method of coking coal tar pitches, and the product thereof, as hereinafter described and claimed.

In the treating of pitch, either hard coal tar pitch, water gas tar pitch, or asphalt,

,by itself in a coking oven, serious difliculty is encountered because the material, or a portion of it, on reaching perature varying with the particular material used, suddenly decomposes with large evolution of vapors resulting in sudden and considerable foaming. The expansion of this foaming is so great that it is ordinarily impossible to charge the oven with pitch to more than about onehalf the capacity of the oven for coking coal. Hence it is obvious that if pitch can be so treated as to prevent foaming in'the coking process without material deterioration in the quality of the product, the coke ovens can be operated much more efficiently and economically.

I have found, by extended experimental tests and commercial operations, that with the addition to the pitch of a very small proportion of What is known as coke breeze, viz: small fra ents of ordinary or metallurgical coke, t e mixture can be coked practically without any foaming, so as to enable the oven to be charged to approximately full capacity. A workable and practical proportion of such mixture I have found tobe about 90% of pitch and 10% of coke breeze. Although such breeze has a larger percentage of ash than pitch, yet the small percentage of breeze does not materially increase the amount of ash in the product over that of'a coke manufactured from pitch alone. For example, pitch of the character described ordinarily contains less than .5% of ash. Assuming that the coke breeze has a percentage of 14% of ash, the ash present in the mixture of 90% pitch with 10% breeze would be about a critical tem- 1 85%, which may be considered as negllgible, and a coke from the mixed materials 1s for most practical purposes as valuable as if made from pitch alone. The admixture of coke breeze with pitch may be accomplished in various ways, but I prefer to first grind the pitch so as to pass through a screen of a" mesh, and then mix the breeze therewith while cold. The mixture is then placed in a coke oven of any proper type, or gas retort, and heated in the usual manner to such temperature, and for such period of time, as is necessary substantially all of the volatile matter. I may, however, mix the coke breeze with pitch, while the latter is in a meltedliquid condition, or I may bring the two together many convenient manner, either before or after introducing them to the coke oven or coking chamber.

Where I use the term coke oven I refer particularly to the usual type of by-product coke oven, but I may use any other type of oven suitable for the purpose in hand.

or example, I may coke my mixture in gas retorts, either of horizontal, inclined, or vertical type, or in coke ovens not equipped for recovery of by-products, but inasmuch as valuable byv-products can be recovered from the coking operation according to my invention, I would ordinarily employ a type of oven suitable for such recovery.

Where I use the term hydrocarbon in this specification and in the claims, I refer to such a material as coaltar pitch or its to drive ofi practically free from ash, usually less than 0.5% of ash. This freedom from ash in the hydrocarbons offsets the relatively higher percentage of ash in the coke breeze and gives a cokedproduct relatively low in ash. instead ofusing coke breeze to mix with the pitch, I may employ other solid carbonaceous material which is non-liquefiable by heat, such for example, as sawdust, charcoal, coal, or like products capable of sub stitution therefor.

Having thus described my invention,

what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The process of manufacturing coke from coal tar pitch or similar hydrocarbons, which consists in mixing therewith a sufficient amount only of solid carbonaceous material non-liquefiable by heat to practically prevent foaming of the hydrocarbon at critical heat and then subjecting the mixture to the coking operation.

2. In the manufacture of coke from pitch and similar hydrocarbons, the method, which consists in mixing with the hydrocarbon coke breeze in substantially the proportions of 90% of hydrocarbon and 10% of coke breeze, and afterward subjecting the mixture to a coking operation.

3. In the manufacture of coke pitch, the method, which consists in mixing with pitch, coke breeze in substantially the proportions of 90% of pitch to 10% of breeze.

4. In the manufacture of coke from pitch and similar hydrocarbons, the method which consists in mixing with the pitch solid carbonaceous material in substantially the proportions of 90% of pitch and 10% of the solid carbonaceous material, and afterward subjecting the mixture to a coking operation.

5. In the manufacture of coke from coal tar pitch and similar hydrocarbons, the method of adding to the pitch a sufficient amount of solid carbonaceousv material non- ]iquefiable by heat to substantially prevent the foaming of the hydrocarbon.

6. In the manufacture of coke from coal tar pitch and similar hydrocarbons, the method of preventing foaming of the hydrocarbon at the critical temperature, which consists in mixing with the hydrocarbon a sufficient amount of solid carbonaceous material non-liquefiable by heat as will substantially prevent the foaming of the hydrocarbon.

7 As a new product, coke manufactured from a mixture of about 90% of hydrocarbon and 10% of solid carbonaceous material non-liquefiable by heat.

8. As a new product,acoke manufactured from a mixture of pitch and solid carbonaceous material and containing not to exceed 3% of ash.

9. As a new product, a coke manufactured from a mixture of pitch and coke breeze and containing not to exceed 3% of ash.

Signed at Chicago in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, this 3rd day of September, 1915.

CLARENCE R. ECKERT. 

